EUTELSAT MONTE CARLO OPEN

April 25, 1996

Fabrice Santoro

FABRICE SANTORO: Bad. I was tired when I woke up this morning, stiff. I had the impression that I didn't have any strength. I didn't have any strength in my arms. I had to make many efforts to send the ball beyond the net. The net seemed very, very far and very, very high, and I was afraid after two games. The first two games I wasn't able to move. It had been very difficult.

FABRICE SANTORO: But it was mainly the way it happened that was worrying me. I didn't move. I was really missing strength, therefore my shots were too short. I didn't have enough power and precision. I was lacking everything.

FABRICE SANTORO: This match was worrying me a little bit because I had never been able to beat him in training or in matches. I always lost severely against him. I was afraid of him a little bit. The fact that I came back to 2-Love and 3-Love after winning my serve until the end of the set meant that I was using the right tactics today because I was playing differently than usual. I was playing short. On my backhand in general, I was playing long shots, and it was useless. When I was playing short and crosscourt, he wasn't able to return his forehand. I was laying on his forehand when I had the opportunity. I was playing very low, slice shots, and I was realizing that I was bothering him a lot. He was making easy mistakes. This is how I was able to hold on until the end of the first set. After I was up 2-Love, this tiebreaker was essential for me. I knew that I shouldn't lose it.

FABRICE SANTORO: Let's say that today losing the tiebreaker was a bad blow.

FABRICE SANTORO: It's too much to say, but I knew that the way was being very long and that I would have trouble getting out of it. He played more relaxed in the second set, of course. It's a classical behavior. He said, "It's okay, I played the first set." And me, I was a bit tired, tiredness fell upon me, I was lacking power. In the second set I wasn't fit.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes. His ball was heavier, yes. I've been here for a week. Last weekend the courts were very dry. The conditions were fast, but in spite of all the balls were very big. And then we had the rain, with a heavier court, with heavy balls, and the conditions were very slow. Yesterday it was like that, but his ball was not powerful. Today Gustafsson had a certain strength in his shots. My tactic was better than other times, but I didn't have enough strength.

FABRICE SANTORO: I don't know. Anyway, I rarely have massages on arms and shoulders. Since the beginning of the week, I had massages every day for my arm and my shoulders because I felt very stiff, and I was afraid not to have any more strength and to be too tense the next morning to hit the ball. The three hours I had yesterday had an effect on me today. I didn't have any more punch in my hitting. What I was doing was very soft. Many players complained. I don't want to complain too much because it stands to slow down the game, and this is good for me.

FABRICE SANTORO: I'm leaving to Prague the day after tomorrow, then I'm going to play immediately after a challenger in Lubiana, then I will have a small break before the French Open so I will be able to build up my fitness.

FABRICE SANTORO: No. I'm going to stop after Lubiana. I won't play any more tournaments before the French. The two weeks before I will work on my fitness. I will do practicing, but no more tournaments. I will have played five weeks in a row, so the break will be welcomed.

FABRICE SANTORO: Today when I came out of the court, I was thinking only about the loss, but now I'm telling myself when I arrived here on Friday I didn't even know if I would have the wildcard. Noat told me, "Fabrice, here is the wildcard." It was good news. Emilio I rarely beat before, and Arnaud, this gave me a lot of confidence. In the following weeks I will play in the same way; I won't change anything. I believe there will be other wins.

FABRICE SANTORO: Yes, exactly, a ranking that gives me the possibility to go into the big countries. What is exciting to play against the top players. Playing against No. 12 in the world is better than going to the far end of Europe in a small town. Monte-Carlo, Hamburg, Rome, the French Open is always nice. I will come back very quickly in those tournaments.

FABRICE SANTORO: I don't know what Olivier's program is. There will be Henri. We are going to work together. Olivier will certainly be here one week out of two. I don't know his program. He needs many matches. He will be there.

FABRICE SANTORO: All the Forest Hill clubs in the Paris region are very nice. They have everything I need.

FABRICE SANTORO: It's an agreement. I know the boss very well, so we can play in different clubs. There are outside courts, indoor courts, clay, workout rooms. The conditions are ideal. During the day, there are very few people playing on the courts so it's perfect.